Thank you Scott, and all of you members of the OnlineBookClub.org website community. I appreciate you offering me the opportunity to share a few thoughts about my And Then I Met Margaret book with you.

I learned a long ago that the secret to bountiful living is bountiful giving. And so I hope this blog offers you a point or two that may play around the edge of your mind for a bit, but then will drop in and offer you an insightful smile.

I consider every one of you who has commented on my Margaret Book, an unassuming guru for me. I’ve learned a lot from you. Even the folks who didn’t particularly like my book gave feedback that offered me lessons for better writing. How good can it get?

I wrote the Margaret Book to demonstrate how supportive life will be if we are willing to accept the support it offers us. Life is always sending us everyday, ordinary, unassuming gurus that help us see through our problems by seeing through ourselves. There is no warmer an experience than that.

My book is a lighthearted memoir, with twenty-one short stories about such ordinary, everyday, unassuming gurus that have passed my way. When I’m awake and aware of that message they offer, they help me find the light when I’m experiencing a little darkness in my life.

I refer to these ordinary folks as gurus because they lift us to higher levels of thinking. They do not consider themselves gurus, they show up unobtrusively in our lives to serve us, and never do they try to dominate us. They are friendly guides.

Life is a mystery. Unassuming gurus help us solve that mystery so we can be more curious than cautious when we approach life. What’s fascinating about the help offered by gurus is that they are not teaching you anything that you don’t already know. That’s because all that you need to know so you may achieve your dreams and glow – you already know. You’ve just forgotten.

Margaret was just such an unassuming guru for me. She was an elementary school student who gently nudged me so I could see my arrogance rightly. She jogged my memory so I could remember what was naturally so. If you’re curious to find out what that was, perhaps you’ll read the book.

Of the many epochs I’ve experienced during my seven decades of living, being an author is the most rewarding. I loved teaching high school kids in Boston, as well as college kids at Northeaster University. I loved making lots of money developing real estate as well as being a successful restaurateur. But the satisfaction I got from all of that dwarfs in the face of writing.

Writing for me is a path of liberation that is far more powerful than the practice of meditation. When I’m writing I’m sharing the wisdom I’ve gained through my many years of failing my way to success.

What always amazes me is that regardless of how imperfect the world may seem to be, with impeccable timing life never fails to send me the perfect unassuming guru to help me pass through the next passage of my life.

These gurus offer me the opportunity to slow down for a moment and ask, “Who am I being right now, where am I going and why?” That question often awakens me to what I need to know to have a breakthrough.

I want you to know that I know that you already are incredibly successful with what you do. My book isn’t about fixing you. But what it can do is help you to hone your radar so you’re sensitive to everyday gurus passing by, the purpose being so you can look at yourself and your life a little more closely and see if what you’re doing is really working for you.

I have proven many times that it’s an act of carelessness to be expert at something that isn’t taking me to where I truly want to go. And do you know who calls me on my act? Here comes an unassuming guru!

These gurus don’t know they are in your life to help you walk around, climb over or pass through a mountain, or even a small hill that stands before you. I’ve found that everyday gurus show up more abundantly when I approach life more playfully. It never fails that I enrich my life whenever I enrich my point of view.

I believe my book can help you set the tone in your inner world so you attract gurus in your outer world. Just be more playfully curious about the truth. That will do it every time. What more perfect partnership could there be than the truth and you working together harmoniously?

Does all of this sound self-serving and selfish to think life is all about you? Heavens NO! Be not concerned with how to improve the world, but rather be concerned with how you can improve yourself - then you will improve the world.

My stories are short, light, easy reads. One of the keys to lasting success is easiness. Easiness is a great healing medicine. Even in the darkness, it’s best to lighten up. It’s in the pleasantness of being light that we most often learn something right.

The bridge to long-lasting happiness and success is always right there in front of you. Perhaps a lesson or two that I share in my book may just help you sight your bridge so that you might triumphantly cross over it.

Many who have read my book have said they’ve come to deeper understandings about themselves while reading it. I personally had to learn to get out of my own way before I could be receptive to deeper understandings. By “getting out of my own way” I mean that I had to rise above my habitual way of thinking. I only gained this victory when I was willing to stand aside and look at myself differently. That’s where ordinary gurus help me the most.

Wise men live with questions; foolish men live with exclamations. When I was living with exclamations (insisting I had all the answers), hell on earth was my creation. When I was willing to live with questions, ordinary gurus pointed me toward heaven on earth.

I’ve noticed a comforting integrity that shines through the OnlineBookClub.org community. I enjoy being a member. I find much more pleasure being in my own company when others find pleasure being in my company. You offer that pleasure. I thank you for that.

Thank you for your comments, Rob. I am looking forward to reading your book and I am sure that Margaret will remind me of something I need to know too.
Best wishes for all things grand in 2018,
Shelley

I have not had the chance to read your book yet but now this has certainly got my attention. I hope i am able to come across it soon and open my mind to the everyday gurus that you speak of. I wish you love and light and to continue in your growth and bountiful life as well as bountiful giving.

I am very appreciative of this message , although I have not read your book yet I am even more excited to start it. I loved the part where you discuss unassuming gurus in our life that help us question our purpose and direction. Much joy and success in your journey, thanks for sharing!